[Management of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in the adult: 14 cases and a review of the literature].

The authors report a series of 14 patients hospitalized for spontaneous pneumomediastinium between 1992 and 2006. They included 10 men and four women with an average age of 27.84 years. Dyspnoea dominated the symptoms. The pneumomediastinum was idiopathic in five patients and secondary in the other nine patients, involving an attack of severe asthma in half of the patients, polymyositis in one patient and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in one patient, respectively. The patients presenting polymyositis and pulmonary fibrosis died due to respiratory distress. The other patients benefited from asthma treatment or thoracic drainage, and were kept at rest. Their outcome was good. No cases of relapse were observed after an average follow up of 2.11 years. Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.